Ariana Grande's Food of Love​March 13 2017 By Abiodun Giwa

The cast of "We Are The World", 30 years ago (Courtesy: CNN)

Father and daughter were returning from the Church on Sunday, when the daughter called his father's attention to what she considered a piece of good news. While, the father was thinking about the Church pastor's note in his sermon, equivalent of "Let the children come, for theirs is the Kingdom of God," the daughter said, "Daddy, I want to tell you that a music star, Ariana Grande, has given $15,000 to a fan, for school fees." The father, who was on the driver's seat, looked at her daughter's direction with awe. In a terse statement, the 11 years old daughter told the father about her own future plans for education and what her major in college will be. "Good, that you have a plan for the future and with that plan, your academic future seems like guaranteed," the father said. "I am not sure yet, but it is in my thought," she confirmed. The father thinks veritably that if her daughter sticks to her plan, the burden of worry by her parents about how to get money to pay school fees is over, and she tells the daughter. ​ School fees, and how to ensure it does not constitute a barricade to the children's future, is a major thought in the lives of parents and their children. There are always the thought of people, who want higher education, but have been sidelined by inability to pay their way through college. Some people have followed through with determination, hard work and financial assistance from government, in countries, where such assistance is available for the needy. Therefore, the father, hearing her daughter informing him of Grande's kind gesture to one fortunate fellow represents a reminder of Shakespeare's words, "If music be the food of love, play on..." The father believes that for her 11 years old daughter to have taken note of Grande's gesture in the news, means the world has taken note of Grande's kind act. Research shows that Grande's kind gesture is already on YouTube. The father looked at the daughter and remembered that Pastor's admonition, "Bring the children to Church and let' them come with their ideas." The Pastor had said that the children's ideas should be appreciated, instead of condemning their acts as being strange in comparison to the good old days, and that children should not be ostracized from the body of Christ, because of what today's adults consider as children's weirdness.

Ariana Grande

Instead, the Pastor said, those children's ideas consider as weird, should be welcomed and be transformed into acceptable mode to help humanity. Then, the words of the song of those music stars, who sang in celebration of the needy African children in "We Are The World" come into his mind. Two lines that have become memorable in the song, and which the Pastor has rekindled in his statement without saying it, are: "We're all a part of God's great big family. And the truth, you know, love is all we need." Grande has heeded the call in the song of the music stars as requested for the world to heed the call to help the needy. She has lent a hand. The pastor is calling on the world to lend hands of love to children, instead of condemnation, because we all belong to God's big family and love is all we need. Remember there are children dying in some countries declared by the United Nations as being affected by famine. The children in those countries need love, food and education. Let us not forget them.